FARMLAND'S VALUE DROPS FOR 3D STRAIGHT YEAR

AP

Published: May 27, 1984

WASHINGTON, May 26—
For the third year in a row the value of farmland has dropped, with the biggest declines occurring in Iowa and Nebraska, the Agriculture Department has reported.

As of April 1, the average price was down about 1 percent from a year earlier, the department's Economic Research Service said Wednesday in its annual report.

The value of farmland declined 6 percent in 1983 and 1 percent in 1982, which marked the first drop in farmland prices since 1954.

Department records show that for the first time since 1933, which was in the depths of the Depression, the value of farmland had declined three years in a row, an agency spokesman said.

The reasons cited for the declines include the poor showing of net farm earnings over the past few years, high interest rates and tight credit. As land values weaken, so do farmers' assets; with less collateral, they are not able to borrow as much to stay in business. Real Value Down 5.8%

Last year's 1 percent decline in the value of farmland, coupled with a 4.8 percent rise in the Government's Consumer Price Index, ''implies a 5.8 percent drop in the real value'' of farmland, the report said.

The value of farmland, which includes buildings as well as land, averaged $739 an acre on April 1 as against $743 in 1983, $789 in 1982 and the record of $795 in 1981. As recently as 1976, however, the average value was less than $400 an acre.

The average values ranged from a low of $165 an acre in Wyoming to $3,148 in New Jersey. Increases in the value of the farmland were reported to be the greatest in Pennsylvania, up 8 percent, and in Texas, up 9 percent.

Iowa's farmland values dropped 11 percent, on the average, and Nebraska's were down 12 percent. Value by States

The average values for an acre of farmland and buildings in the 48 contiguous states as of April 1 against a year earlier were these:

Northeast: Maine, $691 an acre on April 1 and $649 a year earlier; New Hampshire, $1,181 and $1,109; Vermont, $849 and $797; Massachusetts, $1,854 and $1,741; Rhode Island, $3,046 and $2,860; Connecticut, $2,862 and $2,687; New York, $793 and $770; New Jersey, $3,148 and $3,056; Pennsylvania, $1,381 and $1,279; Delaware, $1,692 and $1,659; Maryland, $2,239 and $2,174.